


that which you look at for no reason at all

by MMonster



Series: To Learn to Be Human [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, WandaVision (TV)
Genre: Androids, F/M, Feelings, Pre-Relationship, sinthetic being is confused about feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29752371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MMonster/pseuds/MMonster
Summary: As a being with a richness of sensory input that has existed in a body capable of such for not even a full year, Vision has delighted in all the information he can acquire from his senses, cataloging and studying them as best as he can, particularly those of the murky, derivative nature that humans have named ‘emotions’...Vision tries to figure out the most complex facet of being human.
Relationships: Wanda Maximoff/Vision
Series: To Learn to Be Human [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2197062
Comments: 18
Kudos: 154





	that which you look at for no reason at all

There’s something about the angle of the loose curls cascading down her back. It steals his attention for a millisecond when she bounces up from the floor, her clumsy flight attempt making the long, nut-brown tresses move in the most mathematically fascinating trajectory. While it’s not enough to get him to falter in the task given by the Captain for this training session, Vision carefully archives the memory of that tiny moment away for later examination.

Ms. Maximoff, or Wanda, as she has asked him to call her by, doesn’t seem to notice his perusal then, and the training exercise draws to a close with no incidents. Later that evening, while Sam Wilson prepares dinner, she assists him, despite the rotation previously agreed upon. Vision had volunteered to make a meal on occasion, but as he doesn’t eat, it was unanimous that his help wouldn’t be necessary.

His human teammates take lunch in the common cafeteria of the compound, where dozens of the people who work here do as well. But dinner was deemed a team-bonding event, so it’s prepared each and every night by a pre-established teammate. Except Vision, though he enjoys sharing space with the humans even as he can’t fully enjoy the endeavor. He sits on the living room couch where he can see the proceedings in the kitchen and waits for the meal to be ready with the others. Sometimes he brings a book with him, something to keep his hands and eyes busy even though he can easily download the contents of any written material to his database in a fraction of a second.

Tonight, he sits on the couch as well, but as Sam and Wanda flitter around each other in a mismatched dance of food-making, his eyes are busy on his female team-mate. She occasionally puts her hair up when she cooks, though this time it seems she didn’t deem it necessary, because it’s left to flow over her shoulders in smooth waves of a dark tone his database tells him can be called a coffee-brown. Though, when he brings up the few memories he has of her under the sun, the color then seems lighter, closer to umber.

He watches her move, a laugh over a grandiose joke by Sam, and then she leans over a simmering pot and casually puts her wayward hair behind a perfectly-shaped ear. Vision has all the ideal mathematical proportions of the human body cataloged somewhere in his mind, so he knows that to be true. Humans are rarely completely perfect by any measure of the word, however, and Wanda isn’t an exception. The fingers that run down her hair to settle it away from her face are a couple centimeters too long, though the nail buds are within parameters and there’s something about her hand’s motion that is mesmerizing.

Though being able to categorize each and every single alteration to any given environment he is in whether he’s actively paying attention to it or not means Vision can never be truly surprised, he figures the closest he has ever gotten to being so happens right then, as Tony lets out a laugh that sounds closely related to a snort, bringing Vision’s attention back to his presence on the couch aside his.

“Pretty, isn’t she?” The man asks, eyes studying Vision.

“Pardon me, sir.” Vision scours his mind for the possible meaning of the sudden question and comes up empty.

“Maximoff. A little skinny, if you ask me, and with a very unhappy tendency towards alliances with genocidal robots, but hey, who has never made a mistake, uh?” The inventor elaborates, though his words leave Vision all the more confused.

“I’m not sure I gather your meaning.”

“Hey, it’s normal to want to watch pretty girls. As your creator, though, there must be a clause on a contract somewhere that makes me responsible for warning you. Don’t be so on the nose.” The verbal excess of Tony Stark is something Vision deals with remarkably well, probably due to his assimilation of the A.I. whose biggest job was to decipher and apply whatever the inventor said. Not in this case, however.

Floundering for a response and feeling remarkably like a faulty, outdated computer, Vision stares at the older man and tries to come up with what to say. At last, something clicks on his brain.

“You believe I was observing Wanda because she’s… pretty?” He didn’t intend to sound so taken-aback, but Vision has found himself losing control over things like his voice inflection and facial expressions before, so it’s not an uncommon event.

“You’ve been watching her all day today, buddy. And yesterday, the day before, too.” Stark’s tone isn’t high enough to be heard by any of the other human ears present, something for which Vision feels inexplicably grateful. “Honestly, the only thing that stopped everyone else from noticing is the general assumption that you couldn’t possibly be interested in a squishy, carbon-based being plagued with icky human functions.”

When Vision only stares in response, an intensely aversive feeling he can preliminarily name as embarrassment squeezing something inside of him, Tony sighs in commiseration.

“Look, I’m not here that often and even I can see you two have a sort of special friendship going. As far as I can tell, she’s into you too, buddy. I’m not going to give you any sort of bees talk, ever, but if you want someone to talk about feelings or whatever, I feel responsible. So, I’m here, okay?”

The synthezoid then understands that in his very roundabout way, Stark is acknowledging that he perceives Vision’s interest in Wanda and is willing to help him navigate it if so desired. A mere conversation before, though, Vision himself wasn’t aware that his observing of Wanda hints at something deeper than mere curiosity.

“Though unnecessary, the thought is appreciated. Thank you.” He responds, before settling back to ruminate over this.

As a being with a richness of sensory input that has existed in a body capable of such for not even a full year, Vision has delighted in all the information he can acquire from his senses, cataloging and studying them as best as he can, particularly those of the murky, derivative nature that humans have named ‘emotions’. Though Vision has spent many hours in fascinated perusal of the simple tactile feeling of clothes against his body, or air moving as he cuts through it, of water dripping over him in the shower or even the nighttime breeze he has enjoyed on the roof of the compound many nights with the others, he has noticed that a higher richness of feeling is captured only by what is beyond the senses. Things he, as a synthetic being, shouldn’t be able to experience, but that keep making themselves known.

He can now add surprise and embarrassment to his list. There has been relief, the very first one that occurred when he knew the last of Ultron was gone, a mere day after being born. With time, he recognized the strange sensation that nagged at him each time he saw Wanda’s saddened face as worry. Satisfaction was brought by the first time he said something, a literal piece of information in response to something she told him, that made her laugh. The number of emotions he believes he hasn’t felt yet far outweighs the ones he has. But Vision keeps the knowledge of them, and knowing they are there is the closest to happiness he has gotten so far.

Now, he wonders if he may add another to his list. Mindful of Stark’s warning about staring too much, he allows his eyes to slide towards Wanda again, just for a moment, in an effort to capture the fleeting sensation that the sight of her causes in him. She’s leaning against the counter now, relaxed and smiling, arms back supporting her weight. Her different-length necklaces dangle from her neck, one of them resting over her chest and the other over her belly. Her teeth are pearly-white and straight, their only imperfection the slightly too long length of the two front ones. And it’s then that it strikes Vision.

He can map Wanda by the tiny ways she deviates from the ideal human form. Big and small, she’s riddled with imperfections that he notices with the glaring surety only a being that’s half a computer ever could. There’s cultural and social information on his database that tells him exactly what to feel about those defects. Yet, when Wanda smiles, it sends a rush through him, something he can’t name yet. He studies the waves of her hair because doing so is undoubtedly pleasing in a manner he couldn’t explain if the world depended on it. She fiddles with her longer necklace and Vision can’t help but marvel at the way her slightly too-long fingers are made all the more elegant and delicate for their imperfection.

Though unsure where this will lead him, how it came to happen or why it’s even manifesting as such, Vision catalogs a new feeling. He observes Wanda because there’s something about her that’s pleasing, that makes him both happy and satisfied to experience. In a way, even in this distant, initial form, it can’t have any other name. Desire.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback keeps me warm at night. Pretty please? Also, this may or may not have more to it, so I do appreciate ideas, if you guys have any.


End file.
